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August 27, 2008 | 9:52 am

Early thoughts on ‘Religulous’

Well, my suspicions were correct: Religion comes off as looking at best ridiculous in Bill Maher’s new film “Religulous.“ But the early buzz has also been correct: Brilliant.

And so I’ve spent the past 13 hours wondering if there was something wrong with my enjoying the movie. It’s Maher’s timing and clever criticisms that make the film so good and his message so salient. The intellectual-elitist diatribes of The New Atheists and the self-righteous cynicism of someone like PZ Myers only go so far in shaking the faithful. In fact, they don’t really go anywhere at all; they often simply preach to the choir.

But it’s difficult to dismiss Maher’s message on the same grounds. He’s not abrasive, though he is argumentative, and it’s clear that he’s not so much bothered by religious belief as he is religious fundamentalism—by beliefs that incite violence, afflict the powerless and inhibit human progress. And even those who finds life’s meaning in religion—I would include myself in this category—can agree with that.

Unfortunately, Maher doesn’t ever really call the religious folks he’s dealing with—Ken Ham of the Creation Museum; the Muslim rapper Propa-Ghandi, who praises suicide bombers; Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, an anti-Zionist activist who two years ago attended Iran’s Holocaust-deniers conference—fundamentalists.

This casts a negative pall over all religion, not just the right-wing fringe—known to those of us who obsess over who believes what—that is featured in “Religulous.“ This omission adds justification to Maher’s monologue at the end of the film, much of which offers fair criticism but also includes the most misguided statement in the film. Based on a mountain of evidence indicting religion as a thorn in human history, Maher says:

“The plain fact is religion must die for man to live.“

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg in 2 Comments — Leave your comment

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Hi Brad,
Great review even though I haven’t seen the movie.  It is interesting to hear an “outsiders” perspective on religion.  I would agree with the viewpoint that religion in general has issues.  Jesus did not come to establish a religion but to move deeply into individuals hearts and create change.  Part of that new creation brings about a need/desire to be a part of a community of like minded people who help and assist each other in this growth.  God chooses to partner with people to accomplish his purpose.  There will always be people in any “group” who will not understand the real purpose and bastardize the plan.  So why does Bill need to lump all people of faith together?  Would he like it if all reporters were lumped into the same bowl?

Comment by Randy Armstrong on 9/15/08 at 9:58 am

It is interesting to consider the fact that the people who are “extremists” are the ones who are actually following the plain text of what the religions TRULY SAY in each individual “Holy Book.“

So I am simply pointing out the fact that the ones who kill and so forth are the ones following the scriptural calls for punishment to a “T”

Then if you want to say, yes, but the scriptures ALSO preach kindness…

We see there there is a clear ridiculousness in religion.  We are picking and choosing: Thus, religion doesn’t make sense.  It’s either contradictory, or you aren’t truly following your religion’s teachings. 

No other way around that.

Comment by David on 10/05/08 at 2:06 pm

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